Jazz Unlimited for July 22, 2018 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour and New Music.” Boogie Woogie and blues piano music will be heard in the first hour with Count Basie, Leroy Carr, our own Ralph Sutton playing a duet with Jay McShann, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons and Meade “Lux” Lewis, Otis Spann, Gene Harris and Dave Burrell. New music in the last two hours will feature selections from the Mosaic Set, “The Savory Collection 1935-1940,” a newly discovered 1963 John Coltrane recording session, the Charles Pillow Large Ensemble playing music from Miles Davis’ electric period, Chica

Jazz Unlimited for will be “Songs With Heart.” The idea of heart can mean many things. It’s that machine in our chest that circulates our blood, but it also has symbology in many of our interactions: romantic, physical activities, giving and others. It can also be broken in a relationship. Hearts can also be cold or full of darkness. Jazz Unlimited will explore these themes with Louis Armstrong, our own Jean Kittrell, Billie Holiday, the Capp-Pierce Orchestra, Snooky Young & Marshall Royal, Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, Johnny Hodges, the Savoy Sulta

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, July 1, 2018 ill be “Alternate Takes.” Many of our favorite jazz recordings have alternate takes recorded on the same day or even some time later by the same group, vocalist or big band. I suspect that many of you have heard these famous tunes so much that you have memorized them. We will hear some of these alternate takes and possibly hear why these takes were not used for the final pressing of these famous recordings. Some of the artists featured on this show are Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian, Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Ahmad Jamal, Ar

Jazz Unlimited for April 8, 2018 will be “Grammy Winners in My Collection-Part 2.” In it’s early days, the jazz Grammy Awards were not awarded for great music, but by the popularity of the musicians and the Hollywood-Centric voters. Great music began to creep in by the late 1960’s. We will play selections from the 80 Grammy winning jazz recordings in my collection from 1959 to the present. In all of the Jazz Grammys, there is no Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue,” John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out,” not one Blue Note label or Prestige label 1960’s jazz classi

Jazz Unlimited Sunday for Sunday, January 21, 2018 will be “The Jones Brothers.” Raised in Pontiac Michigan, pianist Hank Jones and his brothers, trumpeter and composer Thad Jones and drummer Elvin Jones have each been a major force in jazz since Hank’s 1944 arrival in New York until his death in 2010. We sill hear the brothers featured with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, John Coltrane, Ruth Brown, Kenny Burrell, Joe Lovano, Joe Henderson, Johnny Hartman, the Great Jazz Trio, Cannonball Adderley, Larry Young, Tommy Flanagan, Count Basie, Charlie Haden, various Hank Jones Tri

Jazz Unlimited November 12, 2017 was “Re-Imagining “Ain’t Misbehavin’, Honeysuckle Rose and Jitterbug Waltz.” Fats Waller composed many tunes, some of which are favorite vehicles for re-imagination in a variety of styles. The musicians who played “Ain’t Misbehavin,” “Honeysuckle Rose” and “The Jitterbug Waltz” ranged from Waller himself to Anthony Braxton.

There are no photos for this show.

There is no video for this show.

The Archive for this show will be available until the morning of November 20, 2017.

Jazz Unlimited for June 11, 2117 will be “The Career of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.” Also known as “the great Dane with the never ending name,” Ørsted Pedersen was born in 1946. His father was a church organist. He took piano lessons as a child, switched to bass at age 13 and made his first recordings at 14. By 15 he was working regularly at Copenhagen’s famed Montmartre Jazzhus and by 16, toured Scandinavia with Bud Powell. He recorded with Albert Ayler at age 17 and had a career accompanying Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Dexter Gordon, Joe Pass, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillesp

Please join me tonight on Jazz Unlimited from 9 pm to midnight on St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 KWMU for “The Keys and String Hour + New Music.” the Keys and Strings Hour will present music with cellos as front-line solo instruments with Roger Kellaway, Red Mitchell, Dave Brubeck, Tal Farlow, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. New music for December will feature four items from the just released historically important Savory Collection with music from Count Basie, Herschel Evans and Coleman Hawkins.

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, November 6, 2016 will be “The Compositions of Jerome Kern.” Composer Jerome Kern was one of the first to bring jazz rhythms and harmonies to theater music. Paradoxically, he did not like jazz musicians arranging his music for their own performances. But, jazz musicians like his tunes and are still using them as a basis for improvisation up until today. We will hear music from Art Pepper, Ella Fitzgerald, St.

Jazz Unlimited for October 9 will be preempted in the first hour by the Presidential debate and will resume at 10 pm for “Kansas Citians.” Not only was it an important the center of a great period in jazz, but also Kansas City and its environs were and remain a nurturing place for the careers of many jazz musicians, including Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Pat Metheny, Karrin Allyson and others. Please note that the first hour of this show will be pre-empted by the Presidential debate. You can catch the first hour of the show by going the Archive starting on Monday

Jazz Unlimited for June 3, 2016 will be “Live at Montreux.” The Montreux Jazz Festival celebrates its 50th year this July. It is the most recorded jazz festival in the world. Unlike many jazz festivals, Montreux is not afraid of the avant-garde. “Live at Montreux” will feature music from Ella Fitzgerald, Monty Alexander, Les McCann & Eddie Harris, Ray Bryant, Abdullah Ibrahim, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, the Art Blakey Big Band. Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Albert Mangelsdorff, Don Pullen’s African/Brazillian Connection, Ahmad Jamal.

Jazz Unlimited for 11/29/15 is "The Career of Joe Pass." The New Yorker magazine said, “Joe Pass looks like somebody's uncle and plays guitar like nobody's business. He's called ‘the world's greatest’ and often compared to Paganini for his virtuosity. Despite starting his solo career 13 years late due to unfortunate circumstances, Pass worked constantly from 1961 to 1994.

There are no photographs for this show.

This Archive of the show will be available until the morning of December 7, 2015.

Jazz Unlimited for April 26 will be “The Billie Centenary and New Music.” Vocalist Billie Holiday set the standards for jazz vocals from the 1930’s up until today. They are emotional honesty, good time and swing. Very few have even attempted (unsuccessfully) to imitate her. She will be heard singing both live and in studio singing from 1935 to 1957. Her accompanists include Roy Eldridge, Lester Young, Benny Goodman, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, the Esquire All-Stars, the Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars, the Count Basie Band, the Artie Shaw band, the Eddie Heywood Orchestra, Carl Drink

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, March 1 will be “Remembering Clark Terry.” One of our national treasures, St. Louis trumpeter and jazz educator Clark Terry died February 21 at the age of 94. We will hear approximately 28 minutes of his voice, telling stories about his life. The music will include Clark with Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, his own Big B-A-D Band, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band, St. Louisan Chris Woods, Abbey Lincoln, Tubby Hayes, J.J. Johnson and Lee Konitz.

Jazz Unlimited for January 4, 2015 will be “Gershwin-Part 1: Show Music.” This is the first part of a month long listen to jazz versions of Gershwin compositions. Our own Stephanie Trick, Dave Venn, Steve Schenkel, Jay Hungerford, Valerie Tichacek, Kim Portnoy, Ric Vice and Clancy Newell will be heard along with Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman and Shirley Horn, among others.

The Slide Show has my photographs of some of the musicians heard on this show.

The June 15 Jazz Unlimited show will be “Jam Sessions.” Jam sessions have been going on since the music started. They can be contests where individual players test themselves against other players. They can be situations in which an instrumentalist can try out new ideas and techniques. They can be auditions for jobs with a certain bandleader and they can be situations where the musicians are having fun and experiencing higher-level communication than just talking. Jam session records belong to a subset of jazz recordings.

Jazz Unlimited for February 23 will be “The Guitar of Jim Hall, A Tribute to Rich McDonnell and New Music.” Jim Hall will be featured on the first hour, the “Keys and Strings Hour,” bringing you the quieter side of jazz. Rich McDonnell, founder of the Max Jazz label died recently and we will honor him with some of recordings from the Max Jazz catalog. The third hour will be new music for February. Artists heard on the show will be: the Jim Hall trio, the Red Mitchell quintet, duos between Jim Hall and Pat Metheny, Bill Evans and Ron Carter and the Hampton Hawes quartet. Music in the sec

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, December 22 will be “The Winter Holiday Show.” Each year around the winter solstice, cultures around the celebrate the coming of longer days. In this country, the major celebrations are Hanukah, solstice celebrations, Christmas and Kwanza. We will feature some perennial favorites: Duke Ellington’s version of the “Nutcracker Suite,” Louis Armstrong’s reading of “The Night Before Christmas,” The Modern Jazz Quartet’s version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” Count Basie’s version of “Jingle Bells” and Dexter Gordon’s version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Chris